Threshers Win Tight One, 3-2; July 8, 2014

Game Reports

Tonight’s game against the Tampa Yankees featured Yankees’ pitching prospect, Luis Severino. The 20-year old emerged as their top pitching prospect last season and continued to excel this year in the SAL before being promoted to the FSL for a June 25th start against the Threshers. He no-hit the Clearwater that night thru 6 innings. He threw 4 strong innings tonight before being lifted after throwing 78 pitches. He allowed 1 unearned run, 4 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 8 Threshers.

Colin Kleven got the start for the Threshers and pitched equally well through his first 5 innigs. However, he ran into trouble in the 6th inning, giving up a leadoff home run. He struck out the next batter before conceding a walk and a single. He left having pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 3 Yankees. Through 16 starts, Kleven has allowed only 17 walks in 91.2 innings pitched. He entered the game with the 4th lowest BB/IP (1.56) in the FSL.

Cody Forsyhte came in to retire the next 8 batters. After a ball driven to the wall in right center that Brian Pointer was able to get under, the other 7 Yankee batters were unable to make solid contact. Forsythe struck out 2 and walked none. He became the pitcher of record when the Threshers came back against the Yankees’ bullpen.

Lee “Rocket Arm” Ridenhour pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his 7th save in 9 opportunities.

The Threshers scored first. Roman Quinn had the night off, and J.P. Crawford became the lead off hitter. He and Anthony Phillips struck out to start the first inning, but a passed ball allowed Phillips to reach first. Thus, Everett Williams inning ending ground ball became a fielder’s choice when he beat the relay to first. Brandon Short followed with a triple that scored Williams. The Threshers continued to produce hits in each of Severino’s innings and even loaded the bases in the fourth inning with 2 walks, but they were also striking out twice an inning to kill their scoring threats.

In the 6th inning, Brian Pointer tripled with one out. He scored the game tying run on a Harold Martinez single. The Threshers pushed ahead on a favorable call in the 9th inning. Art Charles led off with a line drive single. He was replaced with pinch runner Angelo Mora. Pointer sacrificed Mora to second. After Martinez worked a walk, Gabriel Lino lined a single to right field, and Mora was gunned down at the plate by Yankees #8 prospect, Aaron Judge. The struggling Chris Serritella followed with a ground a ball down the first base line that the home plate umpire ruled fair. Martinez scored the go ahead run. Tough call. I probably had a better view of the play than the umpire, and I couldn’t have argued if he had ruled foul. But the Threshers got the call and Ridenhour was able to close out the Yankees.

Miscellany –

  • Aaron Judge is huge, 6’7, 255. He was their #1 pick (32) in 2013.
  • Severino throws a 94-95 mph fast ball that can hit 98, a slider and change.
  • Martinez went 2-3 with a walk, stolen base, RBI, and run scored.
  • Martinez lined a single off the right field wall when Judge played the bounce well.
  • Crawford went 1-5 with 2 Ks. He led off the 3rd with a single and advanced to 2nd on an errant pick off throw, but was stranded by 2 Ks and a ground out.
  • Crawford was robbed of an RBI hit following Serritella’s single when the CF made a diving catch.
  • Phillips went 0-4 with 3 Ks.
  • Williams singled in the 7th to extend his hitting streak to all 7 games since being activated.
  • Mora got a late break on Lino’s single waiting to see that the line drive would fall in.
  • Lino went 2-4 with 2 Ks.
  • Serritella went 1-3 with a walk and 2 Ks.
  • Yankee pitchers amassed 12 strike outs.

Crawford picked up 5 assists and a put out. His first assist was a nice backhand on a ball in the hole. On his second assist, he bobbled a ground ball but recovered quickly to start a double play. Three other balls were hit at him and required little movement, but 2 of them required him to react to high hops. The put out came on a pop down the left field line. He had to call Martinez off to make the catch. He did let a ball trickle off his glove that was ruled a single. He moved to his right and, with a runner on first, circled the ball to take it in front of him rather than backhand it. I would have like to see to which base he would have thrown . I love watching him throw the ball. Nice arm.

Cliff Lee is rumored to be starting tomorrow after only pitching 2 innings in Sunday’s suspended game. The game is in Tampa. Damn. The Threshers will announce the starter tomorrow morning.

 

29 thoughts on “Threshers Win Tight One, 3-2; July 8, 2014”

  1. Cliff in an audition for the yanks? If he has a good outing can we just leave him with tampa and take judge and severino with us?

    1. the problem is the yankees dont have any prospect that make me excited , maybe the orioles or royals will bite and offer Bundy or Zimmer. I would really like a haul like the cubs got for shark and hammel but I suspect the phillies would have to eat some loot to get that, but I think they might be willing

    2. Severino & Judge for Cliff? Sounds good. Maybe swap Severino for a lesser prospect and add Sanchez(who is blocked) to the deal.

      1. If Luis Sverino is not available, I take a flyer on Manny Banuelos…coming off TJ but he once had electric stuff sitting at 93/94. He could be another Gio Gonzalez type if he ever recaptures his past stuff. His C&C at one time was tremendous, but maybe the on-set of the elbow issues altered his delivery some and then he lost it.

  2. Amaro has to get a 1# starter at the deadline. That is the only way we can rebuild and wi at the same time. Imagine a totation of bundy, hamels, top prospect, Nola and biddle. But here is the question…. Do u trust not to mess up the trade deadline???

    2. If your expectation is that he will hold onto Hamels and yet manage to acquire a future #1 starter, then the odds are you are going to be disappointed — not because RAJ is a lousy GM, but because any GM would have low odds of pulling off what you expect. The odds probably are no better than 50-50 that Bundy becomes a number one starter, even if RAJ managed to acquire him. Their are a lot of super talented pitchers coming out of HS and college and being picked near the top of the draft over the course of a decade. There aren’t nearly that number of #1 starters in the bigs, and these guys tend to have careers of about a decade.

  3. Aaron Judge would look good at a corner, with good speed and plus arm and can be a 30/35 HR right-handed bat guy with playing half the games at CBP
    He will K some, maybe not Howard/Reynolds like, but his long swing lends to swing and misses,
    .

    1. Good speed ? 1 stolen base in 300 ab’s doesn’t seem like good speed to me. I think the Phillies can do better then that in a trade.

      2. MLB.com has Judges run tool at 55 . . . They also have JP Crawford at a 55 so yes he has decent speed. Just bc someone has decent speed doesn’t mean it always translates to stolen bases.

  4. Jim, thanks for the report. A few things … you may want to fix your Crawford point … you have 0-5 with a hit in the 3rd inning.

    Also, when you say “rocket arm” Ridenhour … do you have any reports on velocity?

    Thanks again for all your reports.

    1. Ridenhour sits 91 to 93mph with fastball. Sometines 94. He throws a cutter and 2 seamer at 91 mph and has a very good 84 to 85mph slider. I think “rocket arm” is a name that the internet radio announcers have given him and doesn’t really reflect a plus plus fastball.

    2. Thank you, made the correction. Pritch is right. “Rocket Arm” is the nickname Josh Appel is using on the broadcasts. I believe it is more alliterative than anything else.

  5. Has anyone seen Cody Forsythe pitch? He is old for the level, but is putting up very impressive numbers in a small sample at Clearwater, after pitching very well at Lakewood.

    1. The median age of players in the FSL is 23.5 years, old at this level compared to what?

      1. From the PRIMER section on this site:

        A+ Level (FSL, CAR, CAL) – 21 years old is average (subtract value for 22+ ages, add value for 20 and under)

        1. The primer section was probably accurate when it was written. Per BP (Baseball Prospectus), Forsythe’s age differential is -0.2 in the FSL. That would put him 72 days younger than the average.

          1. Thanks, Jim. Are the players getting older at every level? If Forsythe is age appropriate then his statistics are even more impressive. What was your impression of his pitching when you saw him play?

            1. What we MAY be dealing with – actually, I bet that we are dealing with – is the difference between “age appropriate” in the sense of being at or below the average age of ALL players in the league, and “age appropriate” in the sense of a player who is a real prospect. Real prospects usually tend to be at least a year younger that the average age of players in the league.

              This isn’t necessarily a knock on Forsythe, regarding whom I know nothing. He’s not ancient for the league by any means, so there may well be something there. Just saying that the original “old for his level” comment probably was appropriate, if we’re talking about his prospect status.

          2. The primer is meant to refer to the average age of “true prospects”. There are guys in the league who are 24, 25, 26 years old who have no shot of getting to the majors and bring the average age up. A prospect who figures to be a starting position player or a pitcher in a major league rotation would generally be around 21 in Hi-A.

            With Forsythe, we’re probably looking at a middle reliever or lefty specialist if he makes it. And I say that based on his draft position, stats and his assignment to Lakewood to start the year. I haven’t read any scouting reports on him.

        1. I don’t think that’s an outlandish age for a college prospect in FSL. It does mean he is going to need to move relatively rapidly though the system to be regarded as a real prospect. I do think it a bit crazy when people gush over the numbers that Tomscha is putting up in GCL. He’s only 11 months younger than Forsythe and playing 3 levels below him, in basically a HS draftee and new arrival LA player league.

    2. Actually, I’ve seen all 5 of his appearances. He has progressed from mop up in his first 2 appearances where he gave up his only hit (a solo HR), to LOOGY, to long man (in a 2.0 inning bridge between Kleven and Stewart against Dunedin), and finally last night’s highest leverage situation that he’s seen with the Threshers – he entered with 2 men on and one out and trailing by one. He pitched 2.2 innings, retired all 8 batters, and got the win. I can’t find my Dunedin notes but I think he was 91-92 on his fast ball. He looks smallish for a Phillies pitcher. But, like you stated, he is putting up nice numbers in a SSS.

  7. And yet another win for Clearwater tonight. Pointer is at it again. Home run number 8 – team was trailing by 2 runs in the 9th inning and Pointer hits a 3 run shot !!!

    1. Theshers had NOTHING going until 2 outs in the 8th inning when Harold Martinez hit a HR that squeezed over the short porch in RF. Still down 5-1 going into the 9th, their was little reason for optimism as the Threshers bats had been deadly silent all night. The bats heated up plus we got a baserunner on an E-5 and suddenly Pointer is up as the go ahead run (and boy did he deliver). I know Pointer has teased us some the last few years, but I like him. Every game I have seen him, he gets a big hit or makes a nice play in the field. He is showing pop, runs well and plays good D. Now if he could only cut down on those strikeouts…

      Bottom of the 9th got interesting when Lino Martinez alternated K’s with baserunners (single, walk). Dan Child came on and got Bichette Jr to fly out on a sky high ball to RF to seal the win. I assume Rocket Ridenhour was unavailable.

      1. From the boxscores it looks like Ridenhour had closed out the previous 2 games. But I don’t think he threw a lot of pitches in those two games. Dan Child is a physically big pitcher. Does anyone know what his fb velo is sitting at?

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